Super Rugby Pacific Playoff Race Heats Up In Crucial Weekend Slate
Super Rugby Pacific Playoff Race Heats Up In Crucial Weekend Slate
Four intense Super Rugby Pacific clashes stream on FloRugby this weekend, including a top-of-table battle and fierce derbies shaping the playoff picture.
It’s an abbreviated slate in the Super Rugby Pacific schedule this weekend, but the pressure has by no means stopped building.
Three clubs are off this weekend, meaning that FloRugby will be the exclusive home in North America of four Super Rugby Pacific matches instead of the usual five, but multiple major derbies and a top-of-the-table clash are on deck in what could be a crucial couple of days for the playoff race.
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We’re firmly in the home stretch of the Super Rugby Pacific calendar, and time is of the essence for clubs with points still left to prove.
Here’s a look at one big thing that you need to know about every Super Rugby Pacific match this weekend, with all matches being streamed live in the United States and Canada, exclusively on FloRugby:
NOTE: The Highlanders, Hurricanes and Moana Pasifika are on byes this week.
Blues At Fijian Drua
Back From The Brink?
With their season almost dead to rights a little over a month ago, the Blues — trying to avoid the dubious distinction of being a defending Super Rugby Pacific champion that missed the playoffs the next year — finally are beginning to rediscover some of the form that helped them roll to their first title win in 21 years last season.
Auckland’s club, currently seventh and one place below the top-6 cutoff, has won three of its last five matches and can rocket itself as high as fifth in the table with a bonus-point win in Suva this weekend, with neither sixth-place Moana Pasifika or the fifth-place Hurricanes able to respond right away, as both are off this weekend.
The Blues spoiled the long-awaited return of Western Force star man and grizzled Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale from an Achilles injury last weekend by getting a big bonus-point victory at Eden Park, and now the playoff places are firmly back in their sights ahead of a winnable — albeit tricky — trek to Fiji.
As for the Drua, who have won two of their past three to keep their own fledging playoff hopes alive, it’s a must-win situation this weekend in their final time playing in the Fijian capital during the regular season, and they get a boost with try-scoring threat Ponipate Loganimasi (who helped Fiji’s sevens team win a silver medal at the Paris Olympics) returning on the right wing.
Queensland Reds At New South Wales Waratahs
Derby Day in Sydney
Don’t let anyone tell you rugby union’s equivalent to the famous State of Origin series doesn’t matter when it’s not rugby league.
Queensland-New South Wales, no matter what rules it's played under, always is a highly anticipated showdown on the pitch, and it’s no different this time around, as the Waratahs try to rescue themselves from a slump of four defeats in five rounds by getting a sweet rivalry victory with it.
That being said, the Reds’ victory over their rivals in Round 5 in Brisbane was a bona fide thumping, with the hosts scoring five tries without reply in a 35-15 victory.
The vibes around both clubs are a little bit different ahead of the rematch, however; Queensland still is in the playoff places in fourth place, but the squad has lost three games from four and sits six points adrift of the third-place Brumbies for a guaranteed first-round home playoff fixture, and nine points back from the Chiefs and Crusaders for a first-round bye.
The Reds will be going to an Allianz Stadium pitch that’s acted as a fortress all season for New South Wales, meanwhile, which is 0-5 away from home and 5-0 at home this year.
The Waratahs could claw their way back into the top 6 with a momentum-boosting victory.
Chiefs At Crusaders
A Final Preview?
You can’t draw up stakes much bigger than this if you tried.
The Chiefs and Crusaders are No. 1 and No. 2 on the Super Rugby Pacific table with three rounds left to play after this weekend, level on 37 points, and the winner overtakes first place in the standings with crucial home-pitch advantage throughout the playoffs potentially on the line.
Considering the circumstances that will be in play in Christchurch, Chiefs-Crusaders II is without question the biggest match on the Super Rugby Pacific calendar to date.
Clayton McMillan’s Chiefs — who hold first place going into Round 13 on scoring differential — drew first blood in their Round 2 clash with the Crusaders in Hamilton, finding seven tries in a 49-24 rout.
However, those same Chiefs are feeling a little extra pressure to perform now; with an opportunity to build some breathing room last week with the Crusaders on bye, a four-try night from the Hurricanes’ Bailyn Sullivan derailed those plans. The Chiefs were battered 35-17 in Wellington.
The Crusaders, meanwhile, won four in a row going into the bye, though Rob Penney has made a bold change at No. 10: ex-Chief Rivez Reihana starts in place of red-hot veteran James O’Connor, a longtime Wallaby hoping for a comeback call-up for the upcoming British & Irish Lions tour of Australia.
Brumbies At Western Force
Points Needed in Perth
The Western Force, who were founded in 2005, played their first Super Rugby Pacific match against the Brumbies in Round 1 of the 2006 season.
It’s only fitting that as the club celebrates its 20th anniversary this weekend in Perth, another landmark moment in its history could happen against the same opponent.
The Force’s topsy-turvy history has been well-documented, having been axed from the competition before making a triumphant return in 2022, and their supporters have been treated to some of the best play ever seen out of the club this season, as they’ve been in the playoff hunt and played entertaining, attacking-focused rugby with it.
It is the wrong time for the Force to be winless in their last three matches, however, as a draw with the Hurricanes followed by back-to-back losses to the Chiefs and Blues threatens to derail their big dreams — and the Brumbies, who were beaten by the Force in a 45-42 barnburner in Canberra in Round 2, won’t be planning on giving them any leniency this weekend, either.
With Chiefs-Crusaders also going on this weekend, a loser in that match, combined with a Brumbies victory, would mean they would occupy second place in the standings after Round 13 and be in the driver’s seat toward a crucial top-2 spot, an opportunity upon which Australia’s most successful Super Rugby Pacific club ever will be aiming to capitalize.
How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby
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